Cheese-like dairy products and process for producing the same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method of producing a cheese-like dairy product, characterized by adding at least 10 wt %, relative to the starting material milk, of water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that has been treated with immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. Bacteria into starting material milk, followed by maintaining at a prescribed temperature, separating off the curd thus formed, and performing productization with or without further maturing; a cheese-like dairy product thus produced; and a water purifier packed with a support having Paenibacillus sp. bacteria immobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packing material.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a cheese-like dairy product anda method of producing the same. More specifically, the present inventionrelates to a method of producing a cheese-like dairy product in which,using water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that has beentreated with immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, startingmaterial milk is coagulated, and the viable count of general livebacteria, coli bacteria, coliform bacteria and so on is markedlyreduced, whereby it becomes possible to produce a novel cheese-likedairy product having good flavor and safety as a product, and to theproduct produced. The present invention is useful as an inventionproviding a novel technique that enables such a cheese-like dairyproduct having good flavor and safety to be produced by utilizing thefunctions of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, without using a starter orrennet as used in conventional cheese production.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] In general, in the cheese production process, a method is adoptedin which pasteurized cow's milk or goat's milk is used as startingmaterial milk, a lactic acid bacteria starter is added thereto to makethe starting material milk acidic, a milk-coagulating enzyme such aschymosin is added to coagulate the milk protein casein, the coagulum(curd) and milk serum (whey) are separated, and the coagulum is maturedto produce cheese. The above-mentioned milk-coagulating enzyme does nothave sterilizing ability, and hence in general it is only acceptable touse pasteurized milk as the starting material milk.

[0003] In this way, with the conventional cheese production method, amethod is adopted in which a lactic acid bacteria starter is added tothe starting material milk, and once the pH has dropped to a prescribedlevel, rennet is added to coagulate the milk. With the conventionalmethod, it is thus necessary to proliferate the starter lactic acidbacteria by repeating subculture a plurality of times from a storedstrain. Moreover, the starter is added to a large amount of the startingmaterial milk, and hence it is necessary to produce a large amount of ahighly active mother starter. Furthermore, quality control must becarried out thoroughly such that there is no contamination with otherunwanted bacteria when using the starter.

[0004] Moreover, to inoculate with the starter and attain the target pH,it is necessary, for example, to culture the starting material milk at20° C. for at least several hours. Furthermore, rennet is added tocoagulate the milk once the pH has dropped; this rennet is an enzymetaken from calves' stomachs, and is expensive. There is, on the otherhand, a method of preparing rennet by culturing a microorganism, but aswith the case of taking the rennet from calves' stomachs, this isexpensive, and moreover there is a problem that the product becomesbitter.

[0005] In view of the prior art described above, it is a problem of thepresent invention to develop a novel technique enabling a high-qualitycheese-like dairy product to be produced without using a starter orrennet as described above; according to the present invention, thisproblem can be solved by utilizing the functions of Paenibacillus sp.cells, instead of using a starter and rennet as described above.

[0006] The present invention provides a method of producing ahigh-quality cheese-like dairy product without using rennet, which isexpensive, or a starter, as used in a conventional cheese productionmethod, and a product thus produced.

[0007] The present invention relates to a method of producing acheese-like dairy product, characterized by adding at least 10 wt %,relative to the starting material milk, of water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that has been treated withimmobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, into starting materialmilk, followed by maintaining at a prescribed temperature, separatingoff the curd thus formed, and performing productization with or withoutfurther manufacturing; a cheese-like dairy product thus produced; and awater purifier packed with a support having Paenibacillus sp. bacteriaimmobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packing material.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method ofproducing a cheese-like dairy product that enables a high-qualitycheese-like dairy product to be produced efficiently and economically,without using rennet, which is expensive, or a starter, as used in aconventional cheese production method.

[0009] Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide amethod of producing a novel cheese-like dairy product that enables theproduction to be carried out using not only pasteurized milk but alsoraw milk, and a product thus produced.

[0010] Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to providea milk-coagulating agent that contains Paenibacillus sp. cells and isused when implementing the above-mentioned method for producing acheese-like dairy product, and a water purifier packed with a supporthaving Paenibacillus sp. cells immobilized thereon and a filter mediumas a packing material.

[0011] To attain the above objects, the present invention is constitutedfrom the following technical means.

[0012] (1) A method of producing a cheese-like dairy product,characterized by adding, to starting material milk, water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that has been treated withimmobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, maintaining theresulting mixture at a prescribed temperature, separating off the curdthus formed, and making into a product as is or after maturing.

[0013] (2) The method according to (1) above, wherein the startingmaterial milk is selected from raw milk, low-temperature-pasteurizedmilk, high-temperature-sterilized milk, and ultrapasteurized milk.

[0014] (3) The method according to (1) above, wherein the watercontaining Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or the water that has been treatedwith immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria is added in anamount of at least 10 wt % relative to the starting material milk.

[0015] (4) The method according to (1) above, wherein the mixture isheld at room temperature or heated to 30 to 38° C., and the curd andwhey are separated once the pH has reached 4 to 6.

[0016] (5) The method according to (1) above, wherein the curd ismatured by immersing in saturated brine.

[0017] (6) The method according to (1) above, wherein water that hasbeen treated using a water purifier packed with a support havingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria immobilized thereon and a filter medium as apacking material is added to the starting material milk.

[0018] (7) The method according to (6) above, wherein the supportcontains, as a constituent thereof, a sintered body obtained bysintering a ceramic starting material.

[0019] (8) A milk-coagulating agent for use in the method according toany of (1) through (7) above, the milk-coagulating agent being forproducing the cheese-like dairy product and characterized by containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria and/or an extracellular product thereof.

[0020] (9) A cheese-like dairy product produced using the methodaccording to any of (1) through (7) above, the cheese-like dairy productcharacterized by separating off curd formed using the milk-coagulatingaction of the water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or the waterthat has been treated with immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp.bacteria, and making into a product as is or after maturing.

[0021] (10) A water purifier for use in the method according to any of(1) through (7) above, the water purifier characterized by being packedwith a support having Paenibacillus sp. bacteria immobilized thereon anda filter medium as a packing material.

[0022] (11) The water purifier according to (10) above, wherein thesupport contains, as a constituent thereof, a sintered body obtained bysintering a ceramic starting material.

[0023] The present invention will now be described in more detail.

[0024] The present invention relates to a method of producing acheese-like dairy product, characterized by adding, to starting materialmilk, water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that has beentreated with immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria,maintaining the resulting mixture at a prescribed temperature,separating off the curd thus formed, and making into a product as is orafter maturing, and to the product produced.

[0025] In the present invention, for example raw milk,low-temperature-pasteurized milk, high-temperature-sterilized milk,ultrapasteurized milk, or the like can be used, but there is nolimitation thereto. Out of these, use of low-temperature-pasteurizedmilk or raw milk having a large number of useful bacteria gives aproduct having good texture, taste, flavor and so on after maturation,and hence in the present invention it is favorable to use such astarting material milk.

[0026] In the present invention, water containing Paenibacillus sp.bacteria, or water that has been treated with immobilized cells ofPaenibacillus sp. bacteria, is added to the starting material milk. Thisbacterium has been deposited with the National Institute of AdvancedIndustrial Science and Technology (Independent AdministrativeInstitution), which is a public depository institution, with theaccession number being FERM P-18138.

[0027] This Paenibacillus sp. bacterium is known to be low risk, withmost strains falling under level 1 in the new biosafety levelclassification for pathogenic bacteria described in ‘Japanese Journal ofBacteriology, 55 (4): 655-674, 2000’. Moreover, Paenibacillus sp. issplit of f from the Bacillus genus, is named in ‘IJSB (InternationalJournal of Systematic Bacteriology), Vol. 147, 289-298, 1997’ namingonly the major fatty acids characteristically, and has been registeredusing 16S rRNA DNA analysis.

[0028] The water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, or the waterthat has been treated with immobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp.bacteria, is preferably prepared, for example, by treating water using awater purifier packed with a support having Paenibacillus sp. bacteriaimmobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packing material. However,there is no limitation thereto, with it being possible to similarly usewater having Paenibacillus sp. bacteria added thereto, or water preparedby making water come into contact with immobilized cells ofPaenibacillus sp. bacteria, or any water prepared using a method havingequivalent effects thereto.

[0029] Preferable examples of the support and the filter medium in thewater purifier are supports and filter media selected as appropriatefrom herkimer diamond, lapis lazuli, howlite, amethyst, garnet,sapphire, aquamarine, yellow jasper, rose quartz, moonstone, carnelian,tourmaline, pearl, amber, ferrite magnet, granite porphyry, coral,phyllite, quartz diorite-porphyrite, graphite silica, magnetite,lodestone, quartz schist, bincho charcoal, bamboo charcoal, activatedcharcoal, KDF alloy, water containing agate, ceramics, and so on;however, there is no limitation thereto, with it being possible tosimilarly use supports and filter media having equivalent effectsthereto.

[0030] Because the water prepared using a method as described abovecontains Paenibacillus sp. bacteria (and an extracellular productthereof), a milk-coagulating action can be obtained merely by addingthis water to the starting material milk. The water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria, or the water in which are immobilizedPaenibacillus sp. bacteria, is added in a suitable amount to thestarting material milk. Here, the amount added of the water ispreferably at least 10 wt %; the higher the amount of the water, thefaster the starting material milk is coagulated through themilk-coagulating action of the water. However, although this method isfine in the case that the amount produced of the product is small, inthe case that the amount produced of the product is more than a certainamount (e.g. more than 500 liters), then a vessel (cheese vat) havingdouble the capacity will be required.

[0031] Considering the production efficiency at a factory, this would bevery disadvantageous, and hence it is preferable to first produce afermentation starter using the starting material milk and the watercontaining Paenibacillus sp. bacteria. Specifically, taking 1% of thestarting material milk as a guide, starting material milk for thestarter is prepared, and the same amount of the water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria is added thereto. The resulting mixture ismaintained at 30 to 38° C. for approximately 24 hours, thus carrying outfermentation and culturing, and once the pH has reached approximately4.6, this culture is added to the starting material milk as a starter.Through this operation, the production efficiency can be kept high, andhence the production efficiency of the cheese-like dairy product usingthe water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria can be improved.

[0032] Next, the starting material milk is heated to 30 to 38° C. Thistemperature condition is the optimum coagulation reaction temperature.After the starting material milk has been coagulated, the curd is cutup, and then the temperature is raised to 30 to 53° C. while stirring.At this time, it is preferable to raise the temperature gradually ratherthan at a single stroke. As a result, it becomes possible to utilize tothe utmost the action of bacteria that are activated in any of varioustemperature ranges, i.e. psychrophiles, mesophiles, and thermophiles.Moreover, in the case of producing a hard type cheese-like dairyproduct, the temperature is raised to approximately 53° C.

[0033] Next, once the acidity has reached pH 6 to 4, the curd and wheyare separated, and once transparent whey has appeared, whey removal iscarried out. In this case, the curd is subjected to the whey removalonce the acidity has reached pH 6 to 4; the subsequent quality andflavor of the cheese-like dairy product differs between the case thatthe whey removal is carried out when the acidity is pH 4 and the casethat the whey removal is carried out when the acidity is pH 6. It isthus preferable to carry out the whey removal at a suitable aciditybetween pH 6 and 4, giving consideration to the desired quality andflavor of the cheese-like dairy product.

[0034] Next, the curd is matured. When maturing the curd, the curd issteeped, for example, in saturated brine, preferably approximately 20%saturated brine. By steeping the curd in 20% saturated brine after thecurd has been pressed in gauze, a flavorsome cheese-like dairy productcan be produced. Moreover, by steeping the curd in saturated brine for 3months to 1 year or longer, the degree of maturation can be increased.

[0035] Next, the curd is taken out from the saturated brine, and isdewatered whereby a fresh type product can be produced, or is air-driedand stored whereby a semi-hard type product or a hard type product canbe produced. By steeping the curd in saturated brine in this way,infiltration of unwanted bacteria from the outside can be prevented, andhence a highly safe cheese-like dairy product can be produced, andmoreover a cheese-like dairy product having a mellow saltiness can beobtained. So long as the cheese-like dairy product of the presentinvention is prepared by coagulating milk using the method describedabove, there are no particular limitations on the type of thecheese-like dairy product, with all types of product being included inthe present invention. Moreover, a milk-coagulating agent of the presentinvention is prepared by incorporating therein as an active ingredientPaenibacillus sp. bacteria and/or an extracellular product thereof, andis used formulated into a suitable form. There are no particularlimitations on the method of incorporating the active ingredient, theproportion of the active ingredient, or the carrier, with design beingcarried out as appropriate in accordance with the usage.

[0036] A water purifier of the present invention is characterized bybeing packed with a support having Paenibacillus sp. bacteria asdescribed above immobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packingmaterial. Here, a preferable example of the support is a ceramicsintered body manufactured by subjecting a ceramic starting material toforming and sintering, but there is no limitation thereto, with it beingpossible to similarly use any other support having equivalent effects.Moreover, preferable examples of the filter medium are supports andfilter media selected as appropriate from herkimer diamond, lapislazuli, howlite, amethyst, garnet, sapphire, aquamarine, yellowjasper,rosequartz, moonstone, carnelian, tourmaline, pearl, amber, ferritemagnet, granite porphyry, coral, phyllite, quartz diorite-porphyrite,graphite silica, magnetite, lodestone, quartz schist, bincho charcoal,bamboo charcoal, activated charcoal, KDF alloy, water containing agate,ceramics, and so on, with it being possible to use these in combinationas appropriate. In the present invention, the above-mentioned supportsand filter media are used in a freely chosen combination with designbeing carried out as appropriate. With the water purifier of the presentinvention, apart from the constitution specified above, an ordinarywater purifier constitution can be used, with there being no particularlimitations on the constitution.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0037] Next, the present invention will be described concretely throughexperimental examples and working examples; however, the presentinvention is not limited whatsoever by the following experimentalexamples and working examples.

Experimental Example 1

[0038] In the present experimental example, water that had been treatedusing a water purifier packed with a support having Paenibacillus sp.bacteria immobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packing materialwas added to starting material milk, thus trialing the production of araw cheese-like product having the form of soft lumps.

(1) Experimental Method 1) Water Purifier

[0039] A water purifier packed with a ceramic sintered body having cellsof Paenibacillus sp. bacteria (FERM P-18138) immobilized thereon andanother filter medium as a packing material was used.

2) Preparation of Cheese-Like Dairy Product

[0040] 3 liters of raw milk and 2 liters of water that had been passedthrough the water purifier were mixed together to prepare 5 liters ofmixed liquid. Neither the raw milk nor the water had been subjected toheat treatment. The mixed liquid was put into a vessel, the vessel wasimmersed in steep water, the temperature was held at 20° C., andcoagulation was carried out over 24 hours. Maintaining room temperatureat 20° C., the experiment was carried out 10 times for raw cow's milk,and 5 times for goat's milk. Additives (fermenting yeast, interfacialyeast, rennin) were not added to the above-mentioned mixed liquid. Afterthe mixed liquid had been coagulated, the milk plasma was removed usinga straining cloth at 20° C. over 24 hours, and then after a further 24hours, the coagulated mass was put into a shaping mold and thus shaped.Sudden changes were seen in the product 24 hours and 48 hours afterputting into the mold. Salting was carried out twice: approximately 2%of dry salt relative to the weight of the cheese was sprinkled onto thesurface immediately after putting into the mold and after the firstchange. 48 hours after carrying out the shaping, the cheese was removedfrom the mold, and maturation was carried out at approximately 15° C.

3) Bacteriological Analysis

[0041] To test the safety of the product, an analysis was carried out ofthe viable count in the product of Staphylococcus aureus, salmonellabacteria, coli bacteria and Listeria monocytogenes.

(2) Results 1) Physicochemical Properties

[0042] For each experiment, the mixed liquid was coagulated in 24 hours,and 24 hours after straining the coagulum produced was of high quality,having an appearance like soft cheese that is spread on bread, and beingvery smooth on the tongue and thus highly palatable. 48 hours afterputting into the mold, the cheese-like product produced maintained itsshape without disintegrating. The cheese closely resembled orthodox softCamembert cheese in terms of density, feel and texture.

2) Bacteriological Properties

[0043] The results of the bacteriological analysis are shown in Tables 1to 3. Here, Table 3 shows the analysis results for a cheese of acomparative example prepared through a traditional production methodusing the same starting material milk. TABLE 1 Raw cow's milkcheese-like product of the present invention Analyzed bacteria ResultStandard value Staphylococcus aureus / g Salmonella bacteria / g ZeroZero Coli bacteria / g Listeria monocytogenes / 25 g Zero Zero

[0044] TABLE 2 Goat's milk cheese-like product of the present inventionmatured for 3 months Analyzed bacteria Result Standard valueStaphylococcus aureus / g Salmonella bacteria / g Zero Zero Colibacteria / g Listeria monocytogenes / 25 g Zero Zero

[0045] TABLE 3 Raw cow's milk cheese produced using traditional method(comparative example) Analyzed bacteria Result Standard valueStaphylococcus aureus / g Salmonella bacteria / g Zero Zero Colibacteria / g

[0046] From the analysis results in Tables 1 and 2, it can be seen thatthe viable count was below the standard value for all of the types ofbacteria, showing that water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria (i.e.containing an extracellular product thereof) has an action of inhibitingthese types of bacteria. It can thus be seen that by using watercontaining Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, production can be carried outadequately using raw milk, not only pasteurized milk.

[0047] It is highly significant that the number of bacteria detected inthe cheese-like product produced was very small. Looking at the resultscomparing the raw cow's milk cheese produced using the traditionalmethod (Table 3) and the cheese-like products produced using a waterpurifier according to the present invention (Tables 1 and 2), theanalysis results show that the number of bacteria in the lattercheese-like products is very low. That is, comparing with the analysisresults for the cheese produced using the traditional method (Table 3),it can be seen that the number of bacteria in the cheese-like productproduced using the water purifier (Table 1) is very low. These two typesof analysis results were obtained from cheese and a cheese-like productprepared using the same starting material milk. Furthermore, thebacteriological analysis results in Table 2 were also good. Theseanalysis results for the cheese-like product matured for 3 months show abacterial contamination rate that is almost unbelievably low for a rawmilk product.

[0048] With the present invention, a soft lumpy cheese-like product canbe produced merely by mixing together water that has been passed througha water purifier as described above and raw milk (i.e. without addingadditives). This fact would be very hard to believe for a person workingin traditional cheese production. A big advantage of the presentinvention is that the number of bacteria in the cheese-like product isgreatly reduced, and hence a low habitation rate of pathogenic bacteriacan be completely (100%) maintained. Data on the time limit forconsumption of the product is also excellent.

[0049] Next, working examples with regard to methods of producing a hardtype cheese-like product, a semi-hard type cheese-like product, a pastafilata type cheese-like product, and a fresh type cheese-like productwill be described in detail.

EXAMPLE 1 Production of Hard Type Cheese-Like Product

[0050] Starting material milk was coagulated as in Experimental Example1, the curd produced was cut up, and then the curd was heated from 30°C. to 53° C., thus discharging whey and lactose from the curd as much aspossible. Once the curd particles had become about as big as grains ofrice, the curd was collected together in whey, and was then put into amold, and was pressed. Next, the curd was steeped in brine and heated.Maturation was carried out for 4 months during which time surfacetreatment was carried out, whereby a hard type cheese-like product wasobtained.

EXAMPLE 2 Production of Semi-Hard Type Cheese-Like Product

[0051] Curd was prepared as in Experimental Example 1, and once the pHof the curd had become approximately 6.4, the curd was accumulated inwhey, preliminary pressing was carried out to produce a mat, and thenthe curd was put into a mold and pressed by placing a weight thereon,whereby a semi-hard type cheese-like product was obtained.

EXAMPLE 3 Production of Pasta Filata Type Cheese-Like Product

[0052] Curd was prepared as in Experimental Example 1, and once the pHof the curd had become 5.2, the curd was kneaded in hot water from 85°C. to 100° C. to produce a soft dough like mochi rice cake, and thenafter shaping, steeping in brine was carried out, whereby a pasta filatatype cheese-like product was obtained.

EXAMPLE 4 Production of Fresh Type Cheese-Like Product

[0053] Curd was prepared as in Experimental Example 1, the pH of thecurd was reduced as far as 4.8, the whey was drained off, and a smallamount of salt (approximately 1%) for shaping was mixed in and kneadingwas carried out. Once the shape had set, the curd was put into brine andheated, and then dry salt was rubbed in (salt content approximately 2%of cheese). Next, maturation was carried out for 3 months during whichtime surface treatment was carried out, whereby a fresh type cheese-likeproduct was obtained.

Industrial Applicability

[0054] According to the cheese-like dairy product and method ofproducing the same of the present invention, the following remarkableeffects are obtained.

[0055] (1) A high-quality cheese-like dairy product can be producedefficiently and economically, without using rennet, which is expensive,or a starter, merely by adding at least 10 wt % of water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria (i.e. containing an extracellular productthereof) to starting material milk.

[0056] (2) A water purifier packed with a support having Paenibacillussp. bacteria immobilized thereon and a filter medium as a packingmaterial can be provided.

[0057] (3) A cheese-like dairy product that is highly safe and has amature flavor can be provided.

[0058] (4) A milk-coagulating agent for production of a cheese-likedairy product that contains Paenibacillus sp. bacteria and enables acheese-like dairy product as described above to be produced can beprovided.

[0059] Statement of Deposited Microorganism

[0060] Name and address of depository institution: International PatentOrganism Depositary, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Scienceand Technology (Independent Administrative Institution) (address:Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki,

[0061] Japan (postal code 305-8566))

[0062] Date deposited: Dec. 8, 2000

[0063] Accession number: FERM P-18138

[0064] Indication of microorganism: Paeni

1. A method of producing a cheese-like dairy product, characterized byadding water containing Paenibacillus sp. bacteria or water that hasbeen treated with immobilized cells of said Paenibacillus sp. Bacteriainto starting material milk, followed by maintaining the resultingmixture at a prescribed temperature, separating off the curd thusformed, and performing productization with or without further maturing.2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the starting material milkis any one of raw milk, low-temperature-pasteurized milk,high-temperature-sterilized milk, and ultrapasteurized milk.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the water containing Paenibacillussp. bacteria or the water that has been treated with immobilized cellsof Paenibacillus sp. bacteria is added in an amount of at least 10 wt %relative to said starting material milk.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the mixture is held at room temperature or heated to 30to 38° C., and the curd and whey are separated once the pH has reached 4to
 6. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the curd is matured bybeing immersed in saturated brine.
 6. The method according to claim 1,wherein water, which has been treated using a water purifier packed witha support having said Paenibacillus sp. bacteria immobilized thereon anda filter medium as a packing material, is added to the starting materialmilk.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the support contains,as a constituent thereof, a sintered body obtained by sintering aceramic starting material.
 8. A milk-coagulating agent for producingsaid cheese-like dairy product used in the method according to any ofclaims 1 through 7, characterized by containing Paenibacillus sp.bacteria and/or an extracellular product thereof.
 9. A cheese-like dairyproduct produced using the method according to any of claims 1 through7, wherein the cheese-like dairy product is obtained by separating offcurd formed using the milk-coagulating action of the water containingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria or the water that has been treated withimmobilized cells of Paenibacillus sp. bacteria, and performingproductization with or without further maturing.
 10. A water purifierfor use in the method according to any of claims 1 through 7, the waterpurifier characterized by being packed with a support havingPaenibacillus sp. bacteria immobilized thereon and a filter medium as apacking material.
 11. The water purifier according to claim 10, whereinthe support contains, as a constituent thereof, a sintered body obtainedby sintering a ceramic starting material.